In the world of mass market production, companies like M.S. Schmalberg are a treasure. The company has been around for multiple generations and is still run by several members of the same family. They make custom millinery flowers the old-school way. The have an enormous collection of antique flower irons and machinery that date all the way back to the 1800′s. Artisans operate heat presses, then shape each fabric petal by hand. Multiple petals are then glued or wired together for unique flower creations.
The process is time consuming, and certainly isn’t cheap. However, you get a work of art that you can’t get anywhere else, custom made to your dreams. I recently bought a bunch of their beautiful petals to supplement my own collection of handmade and vintage fabric flowers used in my embroidery and accessories collection. Their huge range of shapes and looks have only inspired me to bigger and better designs.
